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Old 04-07-2018, 10:11 PM   #15 (permalink)
Gabe15
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Default Re: First macro propagation attempt

I would recommend to put drainage holes in. As the top layer evaporates (where most of the roots are), you will water more and more, but the water will collect at the bottom layer and can get very soggy and start to rot out the corms and roots. This is easily solved by drainage holes. They will not make the sawdust dry out quickly, but will allow for more even moisture throughout the medium.

I would also recommend to do a hot water bath treatment (54°C for 20min), you can fit a lot of corms in a steel drum and do relatively large batches at a time, you can also keep reheating the water and do more batches back to back. Just put the drum over a propane burner or fire and check temperature. Since you are going through all of the work to clean and pare the corms, it would be wise to ensure against corm weevils and nematodes at the same time. The paring alone does not necessarily kill all of the nematodes or weevil eggs which can be burrowed into the corm itself.
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